funny business

我一直觉得我的邻居看起来很可疑,他年纪轻轻,有什么正经工作,可是他却开着一辆豪华轿车,还有一艘游艇。后来我注意到,总是有人上他家做客,而且这些人都是过半个小时就出来。这可疑的情形,让我想到了一句习惯用语,那就是: funny business.

这两个词大家应该都非常熟悉,funny滑稽可笑的,business事情,生意。连起来,funny business, 意思却来了个180度大转弯,指的是非法的,或者不合道德的。

After seeing people coming and going from the neighbor's house, I began to suspect there was some funny business taking place, 看到我邻居家老是有人进进出处,我开始怀疑他们在进行什么非法交易。

居然被我猜对了!1个月之后,警察就出现在他们的家门口,原来他在做毒品交易。幸好这不是个暴力案件,而在下面的例子里,我们来看看这名记者为我们讲述一场犯罪情况:

例句-1:The cop knew the crook was armed and dangerous. When she finally caught him, he was told to throw down his gun and put his hands up over his head. She also warned him not to try any funny business. It was clear that she wouldn't hesitate to shoot if he made any wrong moves.

这段话是说: 警察知道这个坏人身上带了枪,很危险。她最终抓到他的时候,警察告诉他放下武器并把手放到脑后,并且警告他不要耍任何把戏。很明显,如果他有任何举动,警察会毫不犹豫地开枪。

******

警察的顾虑是对的。很多犯罪份子都会在他们的衣服或者鞋里藏另一把枪。这就是为什么警察需要随时保持警惕。The cop needs to remain cautious in case there's any funny business, 为防止坏人耍把戏,警察必须随时随地保持警惕。

上面我们说到, funny business除了指非法的事情,还可以指不道德,不合理的行为。下面的例子就讲到了这样一个情况。让我们来听听看:

例句-2:Recently, Paula's husband was busier than ever, and had to go out of town one weekend every month to meet with clients. She started to wonder if there was some funny business going on. Soon enough, she found purchases of women's jewelry and lingerie on his credit card bill. He was having an affair with his secretary!

这段话是说:宝拉的丈夫最近比以往都要忙,而且每个月都有一个周末要出差,去跟客户见面。宝拉开始怀疑是不是有什么问题。不久之后,她发现丈夫在用信用卡购买女士珠宝和内衣。原来他跟他的秘书有一腿!

女人的第六感通常特别准! 就像上次我带我的前男友回家,我妈妈就特别不喜欢他! 她觉得这个人看起来不够正直。之后的几个星期,我们竟然一起看到这个男人在跟别的女生约会! 可真不怎么样!

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